AP quoted a source from authorities in Helsinki as saying that a "fault" had been discovered on the C-Lion1 data cable connecting Finland and Germany.
The cable is nearly 1,200 km long under the Baltic Sea, between Helsinki (France) and Rostock (Germany). Technicians at Cinia - a Finnish state-owned data service provider - discovered the problem during a periodic inspection at around 4am local time on November 18.
"All fiber optic connections were cut," the company's spokesperson told Finnish media, adding that the cause of the incident was being investigated.
"There is no basis for the cable break, but such a break would not have occurred in this sea area without external impact."
According to Samuli Bergstrom, head of the Cyber Security Center at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), Finland's Internet traffic is being routed along other data cables.
"Cable breaks occur occasionally and can have many different reasons. For example, they are vulnerable to weather and damage by transportation," Bergstrom told broadcaster broad broadcasting.
The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) said it was too early to assess the cause, noting that there were about 200 underground cable breaks worldwide each year.
The most common cause is human activities, such as fishing or anchoring, a SUPO spokesperson pointed out.
Finland and Estonia had previously blamed Russia for the October 2023 incident that damaged the Balticconnector gas pipeline between the two countries, until an investigation determined that the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship was the cause of the incident.
The C-Lion1 cable line was put into operation in 2016 to improve Finland's data connection with the European center. The cable itself runs near the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which once transported Russian gas to Germany.
Three of the four branches of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 were sabotaged in September 2022. Nord Stream 2 has been completed but has never been enabled, as Germany has refused to grant a license.
No one was held responsible for the explosion that paralyzed the pipeline. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has criticized the US and Norway. Meanwhile, some Western newspapers claimed that a group of Ukrainians carried out the bombing that sabotaged Nord Stream.
